The new measure is part of a wider effort to cut down on the high number of outstanding warrants. It was first announced more than a year ago when the province rolled out funding to create a new squad to pursue high-risk fugitives with outstanding warrants.

The province funds 72 positions for the joint Winnipeg Police Service-RCMP warrant enforcement unit. As of Oct. 17, 729 arrests had been made.

Conservative justice critic Reg Helwer questioned why it's taken so long for the warrant squad to identify those on income assistance.

"What took them so long to use this tool?" he said. "It's obviously something they felt wasn't important enough to get moving on."

Swan said the stumbling block was streamlining police access to information in government databases to track individuals with outstanding warrants.

"We wanted to line everything up so that we now have a rigorous and comprehensive way of seeing whether there's outstanding warrants for serious offences," he said.

Swan said people who apply for or already get income assistance will be required to deal with outstanding warrants under the Criminal Code to prevent benefits from being cut off.

Provisions are in place to minimize the impact on family members. If two or more people are in the household, there will be no cut to basic benefits for rent, utilities and health care.

Eligibility for welfare would be reinstated once a person confirms outstanding warrants have been cleared up.

You can comment on most stories on winnipegfreepress.com. You can also agree or disagree with other comments.
All you need to do is be a Winnipeg Free Press print or e-edition subscriber to join the conversation and give your feedback.